Ailing Nawaz Sharif to be treated at Lahore hospital

Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, released from a high-security jail here for six weeks on medical grounds, will undergo treatment at a Lahore hospital from Thursday, his doctor said on Wednesday.

Sharif, 69, was lodged in the Kot Lakhpat jail since December last year, serving a seven-year imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case.

Nawaz, who was released from Kot Lakhpat Jail on Tuesday night after the Supreme Court granted him bail for six weeks to obtain medical treatment in the country, will be shifted to the Sharif Medical City Hospital on Thursday, his personal physician Dr Mohammad Adnan Khan informed.

A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Tuesday approved the former premier's bail for six weeks on medical grounds.

The court ruled that Nawaz will not be allowed to leave the country for treatment, and directed him to submit two bail bonds amounting to Rs 10 million.

The PML-N supremo reached his home in Jati Umra late Tuesday night to a warm welcome by his family members, including his mother, daughter Maryam, and brother Shehbaz Sharif.

Maryam has repeatedly said that her father's kidney function has deteriorated and his kidney disease is at stage three.

Nawaz, thrice the prime minister of Pakistan, had been in jail following his conviction in Al-Azizia corruption case in line with the Supreme Court's July 2017 verdict that disqualified him and removed him from premiership.